Writers and producers reps go back to cloistered negotiations

Representatives for writers and producers cloistered at an undisclosed Los Angeles hotel to resume talks after a three week hiatus in negotiation. According to a report in Daily Variety, each side brought in smaller teams that adhered to a media blackout at the end of Monday's session and that talks went into the early evening. Another round is set for 10 a.m. today which super agents such as Bryan Lourd of Creative Artists Agency, Jim Wiatt with William Morris and Jim Berkus with United Talent Agency continue to work behind the scenes.

The Daily Variety stated that "pessimism pervaded in some quarters, as some suspected that Monday's session was little more than a pro forma PR move by leaders of the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers -- mostly in reaction to a rain of pinkslips. The darker outlook's fueled by uncertainty over just how far the two sides remain apart in key areas, such as payment for streaming video or whether the WGA had taken its DVD residuals increase proposal off the table. Before talks broke off on Nov. 4, the AMPTP conceded it would pay writers for use of streaming video but only after a 45-day window for promotional use -- prompting subsequent ridicule by guild leaders, who said the promo window should be only three days long."

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, writers went back to the picket lines on Monday.

On Tuesday before Thanksgiving, a march along Hollywood Boulevard drew 4,000 supporters including members of the Screen Actors Guild, Teamsters and Service Employees International Union.

The Los Angeles Times report said that "depending on how long it lasts, the strike could end up inflicting more economic pain than the previous writers walkout in 1988, which lasted 22 weeks and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million. That was the equivalent of a little more than $3 million a day."